Why Does Finder Report a Different Amount of Free Space

You may notice that Finder reports more available disk space than Disk Doctor. This is expected behavior, not a bug.

Why the Numbers Differ

Finder includes purgeable space when calculating available storage. Purgeable space consists of files that macOS can automatically remove when storage is needed, such as:

• iCloud Drive files that have been downloaded locally but can be re-downloaded on demand.
• Time Machine local snapshots that macOS stores temporarily on your internal drive.

Finder counts this purgeable space as available because macOS will reclaim it automatically if your drive runs low on space.

Disk Doctor reports the actual free space on your drive -- the amount of storage that is genuinely unoccupied right now. It does not count purgeable files as free space because those files still physically exist on your drive.

Which Number Is Correct

Both numbers are accurate from their respective perspectives. Finder gives you a practical estimate of how much space you could use, while Disk Doctor shows how much space is truly free at this moment. The difference between the two represents the purgeable space on your drive.